About

I hate writing about myself, but over the years, I’ve been asked why I don’t have a public bio available somewhere. I’ve always thought that most of what you might want to know about me can be found on all the social networking sites. That said, I figured I’d humor you all and put up something semi-coherent for you all. Here goes nothing.

My name is Tobin Titus. I work out of my home office for Microsoft on the Internet Information Services team. I’ve also done some business development and intellectual property creation. I am the proud owner of 18 patent applications; the first of which I may not see approved or rejected until 2011.

In 9th grade, I moved into a private Christian school in Pennsylvania where I graduated with honors. I then attended Bob Jones University (a private liberal arts university in Greenville, SC) where I majored in Graphic Design. I ran out of money for the college after three semesters and had to withdraw without a degree.

At the ripe old age of 19, I was managing a Blockbuster Video store in Laurens, SC and another in Taylors, SC. I then moved into an exotic career as a co-manager of a Little Caesars pizza. Taking a risk, and leaving my lucrative career in retail/restaurant management, I took a position as a computer salesman with a local computer store that also had a few ISP POP’s. After a few weeks, I was asked if I could run the ISP. I did so cautiously. As a salesman/network administrator/web developer, I found myself stretched a bit thin. I started trying to find ways to consolidate my work. I helped my employer implement a single billing system that automated all of their tasks such as setting up FTP, Email, dial-up logins for RADIUS, and more. Once this was complete, I moved to the Charleston, SC office where I started doing client network and phone system installations, web development, and custom programming. I was working 17 hours a day and making less than $25,000/year, so I decided to hop onto the .COM bandwagon and start collecting some real money for my work.

Since that time, I have become a huge proponent of making developers productive in their daily tasks, particularly on the Microsoft web stack. Before my current position, I ran my own consulting business, was prone to give presentations at code-camps/user group meetings, and coauthored a few books. After some coercion, I was convinced to work for Microsoft.

Over the years before officially joining Microsoft, I was involved with Microsoft projects. I helped develop some training content for them. Additionally, after publicly proclaiming the .NET Developer Certifications to be useless, Microsoft invited me to join them in writing the next generation of those exams. To be honest, the tests are still largely useless, in my opinion, but they are working on them. It just comes down to your view on what the tests should accomplish, I suppose. I was also a Microsoft MVP for a brief period of time before coming to work here.

Today, you’ll find me on several social media sites including twitter ,Facebook, and LinkedIn. I’m a huge fan of history — particularly US History — and politics. I carry a pocket constitution with me (yes, hard-copy).